Gravel and Wine
by ForeverDarkly
Summary: She was family, everybody's baby sister, and she'd do anything for her family. Everyone had a code they lived by, so did Vanessa; family, friends, lovers, fast cars and risking life and limb to keep all those things she held near and dear safe. Contains some spoilers for F&F6. Han/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Gravel and Wine  
****Prologue: **_**Tokyo**_

The sound of the silver Mercedes slamming headlong into the RX-7 echoed throughout the busy streets of downtown Tokyo; from where she was sitting on the opposite side of the intersection, she wondered if the sound of the two cars colliding could be heard all the way back in Los Angeles. She had arrived just in time to see it happen and watched, with her heart wedged up in her throat, as the Madza rolled several times before coming to a stop on its roof; it's driver dangling from his seat.

Han was trapped. Han was trapped. That was the only thing that kept racing through her mind. Han was trapped.

Maybe, if she moved fast enough, she could get him out of there. She had seen enough wrecks to know her way around the nasty parts of the damage. She was pretty tiny; she could wriggle in there and maybe be able get him back out the way she gotten in. It could work. What could go wrong? She left her Nissan where it sat, in park, in the middle of the street—other drivers be dammed—and ran toward what was left of Han's car. She was almost to him when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. The man from the Mercedes was walking away, like nothing had happened.

"Hey!" She called out, so close to the RX-7 that she could hear Han struggling against the seat belt. The driver turned back, for barely a fraction of a second, and winked at her. He fucking winked, like some creep who tried to hit on her at a bar. He winked and just kept on walking, tucking his cell phone into his jacket pocket as he went. He had time to make a phone call, but could hang around? He was leaving the scene of an accident, she was pretty sure that was illegal, but she had more important things to worry about, things other than him. Han. Han was more important and was only a few steps away. Han would always be more important, there was nothing more…

The heat from the blast was like touching the sun and the explosion sent her flying, knocking her back at least ten feet and she landed hard on her backside. Gasoline, nitrous and fire had never been a good mix; she had seen it before, but never on such a grand scale. Through the flames and the pieces of debris that were still raining down in the street, she could barely make out what was left of the RX-7. Han couldn't have made it, there was no way he could've survived such a blast. Her heart broke and crumbled into a million tiny pieces. Off in the distance, she could hear shouting, sirens and people running about, but none of it really mattered at that point. Her ears were still ringing, head was throbbing and her heart ached something fierce.

Numbly, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone; the screen was shattered, a spider-web of tiny cracks crisscrossed the LCD screen, obviously she had landed on it, but who really cared? It could be replaced in two seconds. Han couldn't. Thumbing at the damaged screen, she pressed 'one' on her speed dial and brought the phone up to her ear, listening to the soft ring. It barely rang once before someone on the other end picked up.

"Baby girl?" Came Dom's gravelly voice. "Vanessa? Vee, are you there baby girl?"

"Dom…I…Han…it's…Dom, I…" Vanessa's voice broke and the tears began to fall. She was surprised she had gone this long without crying, without losing it somehow. "Dom, what do I do? Han…Dom, what do I do now?" She whispered, her fingers curling around the thin gold chain hanging from her neck.

"Come home baby girl, come home. We'll make this right, I promise you." Nodding, even though Dom couldn't see her, she told him she'd call again before she got on a plane, ended the call and stood on shaky feet. The crowds were gathering, she needed to get out of there and fast. Limping away, Vanessa tried not to look back over her shoulder; she slipped up once and took a quick look backward. It felt like her heart had finally just stopped beating all together. This wasn't what Han deserved, none of this was, but there was nothing she could do at that moment on her own.

She needed her family—_their_ family—to fix this.

* * *

**A/N: *waves sheepishly* Okay...so I honestly don't know what I'm doing here, all I know is I saw the new movie the other night and the ideas wouldn't leave me alone. I haven't written/posted anything on here in forever, so please be gentle with me. I only own Vanessa and any other OCs that might come along in later chapters. This first chapter was really short, just an introduction of sorts, obviously there are spoilers for the new movie in there, but the next chapter should be longer and will take place in one of the previous movies. I hope you all like it, leave some reviews and let me know.**

-S


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter One:  
**_**Los Angeles, Several Years Ago**_

She could hear footsteps on the concrete; someone was making their way across her garage. Didn't the _'closed'_ sign mean anything to people anymore? Did no one believe in manners these days? It wasn't a customer that was for damn sure; they'd either stand outside and bang on the garage doors or blow her phone up until she got up and dealt with them. This was someone else.

Scooting out from under the Nissan she had jacked up on the lift, Vanessa laid there on her dolly, wrench held tightly in her right hand, and watched carefully as whoever he was poked around in the two empty bays. She couldn't see his face, his back was to her, but he had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder, sunglasses pushed up into his longish hair, car keys dangling from his left hand and a small pistol jammed into the back of his jeans; he thought he had hid it, but Vee could spot that a mile away. As quietly as she could, she sat up on her dolly, feet planted firmly on the floor and rested her elbows across her knees, the wrench still clutched in her hand and another close to her left, just in case.

"We don't open till ten." She said, loud, clear and calmly, causing her mystery man to jump at the sound of her voice. "And seeing as it isn't even nine-thirty yet and that clearly doesn't matter to you, or you can't read a goddamn sign that distinctly says 'closed', is there anything I can do to help you?" She asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes and laying on the charm way too thick.

"Jesus Christ! You scared the hell out of me! Warn a guy next time!" He squawked, loud and overly dramatic, a hand splayed across his chest as if to keep his heart from leaping out from behind his ribs. He set his bag down at his feet and pulled his sunglasses out of his hair, tucking them into the neck of his t-shirt.

"Warn the guy who broke into my garage? Nah, that's not happening. Who the hell are you?" She asked, looking up at him. And she really looked at him, now that she could actually see him. He was Korean, maybe, with shaggy black hair that he tucked back behind his ears, dark brown eyes that had been hidden behind those sepia colored aviators and was currently flashing her what she figured was his lame attempt at an innocent looking, but lopsided, grin. He held up both hands; empty, to show that he wasn't going to do anything stupid. Other than the obvious: breaking into her garage.

"I'm Han, a friend of Dom's." He said, leaning back against one of the large tool boxes; from all the stickers stuck to the sides of it, it was Mateo's tool chest.

"I know all of Dom's friends, how come I've never met you?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"I'm a new friend, we met down in Mexico." That sounded somewhat legit, Dom was still down in Mexico—or at least he had been last time she heard from him—but that didn't explain why he was in her garage. Pushing herself up off the floor, Vanessa wiped her hands on the back of her coveralls and made her way toward him. Without saying a word, she slipped behind him and snatched the gun out from the waist of his jeans. He didn't say a word as she took the magazine out and pulled the gun apart, locking the pieces up in 'Teo's tool box.

"I don't like guns. The last 'friend' of Dom's who carried a gun turned out to be an undercover cop." Han went to say something, but Vanessa gave him a look and whatever he had to say died on his lips. "Dom wouldn't send you here if you were a cop or if he thought you were shady, he must trust you. So, what are you doing here?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest. His dark eyes followed her every move and bit back a laugh when he saw her flipping him the middle finger.

"Dom said if I was ever in Los Angeles, I had to stop in and ask for Vee. That he'd set me up while I was in town." Vanessa shook her head and laughed; clearly that joke never got old for Dom. "I feel like you're gonna tell me I'm missing something, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am. Dom sent you to Alves Auto and Repair to look for Vee; I'm Vee. He always forgets to mention that Vee is short for Vanessa." She said, smirking at him, as she stuck out a hand from him to shake. "I'm Vanessa, nice to meet you." He took her hand, his fingers sliding around her wrist and brought the back of her hand up toward his lips, pressing a kiss to her grease stained skin.

"Nice to meet you too. This trip just got a whole hell of a lot better."

"Don't get too comfortable, I gotta let Dom know you're here and if I mention that handshake thing to him and that you broke in here, you'll be on the first plane back to Tokyo. Got it?" She asked, pulling away from him and headed deeper into the garage. "Don't just stand there, I can either give you the tour or put you to work. C'mon."

Jogging to catch up with her, dragging his bag behind him, Han came up alongside her and swung an arm over her shoulders. She didn't shrug him off, but did give him another one of those looks of hers.

"I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship." He said, giving her arm a squeeze. God, she hoped he wasn't sticking around too long.

**xVx**

**Los Angeles, Present**

Her garage was pretty much the same way she had left it; hell, it even looked like the same coffee was still in the pot. Wrinkling her nose up at that, Vanessa ran her hand across the wall and flipped the lights on, the whole placing coming slowly back to life; welcoming her home. The place looked good; she'd have to do something to thank Brian. He had been keeping things running for her since she left; he split his time between her place, Dom's and being home with Jack and Mia.

Well, she was back now, he had one less thing to worry about.

Making her way slowly through the garage, picking out the little things Brian and her crew had changed, small stuff here and there, Vanessa took in the sight of everything and sighed. There was another, albeit smaller, work station wedged into the corner, a refurbished vending machine now stood against the wall near the office, filled with candy and chips, a water cooler hovered next to it, and there were speakers mounted high up in the corners, all hooked into an iPod dock, Brian had obviously gotten tired of her beat up old radio. She really had to do something for him now. Even though it was little stuff, giving the garage a mini-facelift, Brian had kept the shop going when she had just up and left it, practically dumping it in his lap, without a second thought.

"This is what family does for each other." She muttered softly to herself as she stepped into the office. Sinking into her well-loved leather desk chair, he hadn't changed that, Vanessa grabbed the invoices that sat on her desk and flipped through them; they had a busy day ahead of them when she opened the shop the next morning. She had skipped out on dinner early, she'd catch hell from Dom for that later, but she had to get things straightened away at the shop first. And of course, Brian had taken care of that too and there was nothing for her really to do now that she was here. Taking a deep breath, she leaned back in her chair and found herself staring at something on her desk. It was a picture frame; she hadn't left that there. It was a heavy looking silver frame, nothing fancy, but it did have the word 'family' engraved in the bottom of it. Grabbing it, Vanessa smiled at the picture that was inside it; it had been taken right after the got back to the States after the whole Shaw thing, it was all of them: her, Han, Roman, Tej, Brian, Mia, Jack, Letty and Dom.

"Mia put it there after you left." Dom said, appearing out of nowhere and rested his shoulder against the door frame.

"You scared the hell out of me!" She hissed, glaring at him as she put the picture back where it had come from. He had startled her so bad she nearly dropped the damn thing on the floor. "What do you want? I was just with you guys." She couldn't get into much trouble in less than an hour; she wasn't eighteen anymore.

"I came to check on you, baby girl." He said, crossing her office in three long strides and dropped down into the rickety office chair on the other side of the desk. "You took off awful fast."

"There were things that needed to be done around here, but Brian did all of them apparently. I could open the shop right now if I wanted to." She said with a shrug.

"Brian's like that. He wanted everything to go good tomorrow for you, first day back and all."

"I see that." She muttered, playing with the ring she wore on her index finger. "So are we going to keep dancing around whatever you're not telling me or are you just going to spit it out, since you know I hate this game."

"Sometimes you're too smart for your own good, baby girl."

"And sometimes, you clearly forget I've known you my entire life." Vanessa's brown eyes locked with Dom and she waited; whatever he had to say would come out eventually. She had known something was up with him when he picked her up from the airport the day before. Dom couldn't lie to her, sure he could and would keep things from her until he was ready to tell her, but he could never lie. When she was growing up, especially when she was a teenager, people would look at them and think their relationship was more like his and Letty's than his and Mia's; but clearly they were wrong and just saw what they wanted to see. Dom was the older brother she had always wanted, her brother David had let her down and hurt her more than anyone ever had. David was the reason she was so close to the Torettos. After their mother died, it was just her and David, their father was long gone and then, eventually it was just her. David was always up to something, some scheme that he thought would put him two steps ahead, but actually knocked him three steps backward. And eventually into prison and so far out of her life that Vanessa couldn't remember the last time she had seen him.

Family didn't need to be blood to be family, Dom had taught her that.

"Hobbs was here." That one sentence brought her back to reality and out of her thoughts so fast she felt like she had gotten whiplash. Blinking, she stared over at Dom and arched an eyebrow. "He stopped by the garage, before your flight landed."

"And what did Officer Hulk have to say?" She snapped, trying to keep the venom out of her voice. They were free of him, of everything; did he really have to keep stopping in on them?

"That he knows who killed Han. He has…" Vanessa waved a hand, cutting Dom off before he went any further. Shaking her head, she pushed her chair back, hitting the wall with a jolt, and stood. She didn't want to hear it. "Vee, baby girl, he knows what happened."

"I know what happened too, I was there." She spat, before heading back out into the garage. From behind her, she heard Dom's chair scrape against the floor and then footsteps as he followed after her. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Why couldn't all of them? "He's dead, why can't you all just give me two minutes to breathe, huh?" She asked, as she felt Dom's hand on her elbow, his thumb rubbing circles into her skin.

"We're all giving you time, Vanessa, but Han was our family too."

"But this isn't like Letty; Hobbs can't bring him back if we find the bastard who killed him. He's dead." She said softly, jerking her arm out of Dom's grasp. "You should go Dom, I'm fine. I just need to get things in order for tomorrow; I don't need any drama when we open." And there would be, as soon as her crew came in, all hell was going to break loose; she hadn't seen Gabe, Raquel and Mateo in nearly a year.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Dom asked, looking down at her. She wasn't the same kid he remembered growing up; sure she still dyed her hair that ridiculous shade of platinum blonde and she still acted like a goddamn tomboy, but there was something in her eyes that wasn't the same anymore. She had grown up, that was for damn sure, but there was something else there too, he just couldn't put his finger on it. Vanessa nodded, her blonde and caramel colored ponytail bopping behind her, and she gave him half of a smile; he sort of believed her. She'd be fine, in her own time.

"Go home Dom."

"I will, but you should take a look at this." He said, handing her the file folder Hobbs had given him the day before.

"What is this?"

"From Hobbs; Shaw murdered Han."

"Shaw is dead. We were there."

"Just look at it, baby girl." Dom told her one last time, before pressing a kiss to her forehead and walking out of the garage, heading home like she had asked him to. When Dom rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight; she could hear the Charger growling out in the front parking lot, Vanessa leaned back against one of the tall tool boxes and thumbed through the file. Inside were several documents, all stamped 'confidential' of course and a handful of glossy photographs.

Nothing really caught her eye at first; that was until she got to the last picture in the folder and found herself staring down at the man from the silver Mercedes, the same silver Mercedes that had slammed into Han. Flipping the photo over, in the top right hand corner, in someone's neat handwriting were the words _Ian Shaw, Tokyo._

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**Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to post, but I started my new job last week and things have been crazy. Anyways, here's the next chapter, it's a lot longer than the first, so I hope you all like it. I'm thinking the next chapter might be a flashback, dive into some Han/Vanessa relationship stuff. It might bounce back and forth like that, I'm still working on it. Let me know what you all think!**

**-S**


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